MFA University of PennsylvaniaMFA Program
Professor EmeritusGrad: Adv Individual Studio

Margaret Grimes studied at Washington University in St Louis, Governors State University in Illinois, and in a workshop at Notre Dame with Alice Neel. She received her BA from Governors State in 1972 and an MA in 1975. In 1980 she received an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied with Neil Welliver.

Grimes has had one person shows at Fischbach Gallery, Green Mountain Gallery, Weir Farm National Trust, the National Academy of Sciences as well as numerous colleges and universities. She has also had regular one person shows at Blue Mountain Gallery in New York City since 1980. Her work has been included in many group shows as well, including, the National Academy of Design and the Denise Bibro Fine Art Gallery (both in New York City), the Chautauqua Institution, the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, OK, the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL, the Davenport Museum, Davenport, IA, the Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington DE, the Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, the Rahr-West Art Museum in Manitowoc, WI, the Reading Museum, Reading, PA, the Queens Museum of Art, New York, the Provincetown Art Museum in Provincetown, MA, and the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2004, Grimes won the Benjamin Altman Prize from the National Academy of Design.

Grimes' work has been reviewed in a number of publications, among them: Art in America, Art New England, The Hartford Courant, The Boston Globe, The New Haven Register, Art Critical, Gallery & Studio, and Art Scope. Her paintings have been discussed in several books, including Green Woods and Crystal Waters: the American Landscape Tradition, by John Arthur, The Artist in the American Landscape, by John Driscoll, Paintings of New England, by Carl Little and Fractals: the Patterns of Chaos, by John Briggs.

Margaret Grimes has taught at Western Connecticut State University since 1980. She was awarded the Henry Barnard Foundation Distinguished Lectureship award in 1990 and in 1992 received a lifetime appointment as a Connecticut State University Professor, a distinguished professor award. She also initiated the Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts program, which she coordinated from 2000-11. The MFA was the first terminal degree program at WCSU, one of only three MFA programs in painting in Connecticut, and the only MFA program in a public university between SUNY-Purchase and the University of Connecticut.

Grimes' biography is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Art.